Ode to the Fallen
by Myevltwin
Summary: For the Fallen, their Memories, and Revenge, I will fight until I have Fallen or been forgiven for my sins.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

This story is entirely fan-made and fictional. Any acts that you might find offensive, disguising, inhuman, wrong or just don't like, we are not liable for. You are reading this story of your own free will and not being forced, if you don't like something we are not forcing you to stay and read it. Please leave the page and re-frame from reading the chapter and or story. All Copyrighted Characters belong to their respect owners. We don't claim anything that is not our own creation and are merely using them for fan made material.

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Prologue

"Blood. Lots of it."

Rachel looked over her shoulder to find Irene leaning over a dumpster and shaking her head.

Three weeks ago an attack that rivaled the New York outbreak almost two years ago took place on American soil in San Diego California. The attack lasted only a couple of hours, nothing compared to when the Fiends attacked last time for sure, but the damage was beyond just their power. Buildings were toppled, homes destroyed, business burned to the ground, and a death count so high it was still climbing. It was being treated as a national tragedy right now and no one wanted to dispute this.

Rachel walked over and looked down. A large splash of green and red blood marked the death of a Fiend and a human. No body to see. Both were probably still alive and running around somewhere. Where ever they were they were probably dying or dead. All that blood would mean a kill unless they could tend to their wounds. Depending on the Fiend, that was not a possible thing unless it was eating a bunch of flesh to recover from its wounds. As for the human, that was up for debate.

Looking back around, the devastation was beyond words. Rachel was sure that this would remain in the hearts and minds of every citizen in the world. It would only be a matter of time before the governments of the world tried to control these monsters.

"Any idea on whether they're alive or dead?"

Rachel offered a hard look in return. She wasn't that good at tracking. And with all the blood and disappearing acts these things could do, she might as well not bother looking. They'd show up when she least expected it. There was also the fact that she couldn't sense any nearby either. Hence the reason why Irene had asked for her to come. Ryu had other business to attend to. Like finding out why the attack happened in the first place.

"This area has nothing for us. Let's move on."

The hammer wielding woman sighed in annoyance while following. She'd rather work alone or with Ryu with the way this woman ran things.

(-)

Ryu checked the apartment number again and then looked down at the note in his hand. The note was right about the apartment. So why wasn't anyone answering his knocks?

Looking left and then right, he produced a small piece of metal and began picking the lock. Kicking it in would draw too much attention with the noise. It was only a couple of seconds before it was unlocked and he was allowed entrance.

"Really?" a snappy voice asked.

Ryu readied a kunai. He was dressed as a civilian for once. He carried his Dragon Sword in a duffle bag. Kunai were easier to keep hidden in his shirt sleeves and on the inside of said shirt.

A man sat at the table with a glass of something, Ryu wasn't sure what, but the smell was alcoholic of some kind. He had a pistol on the table and a sword resting against the chair he was sitting in. He looked annoyed as ever.

"You knocked four times before deciding to pick the lock. I'd have just picked it and came in with my weapons. I suppose you Dragon Ninja are just soft." He motioned towards one of the chairs. Ryu opted to stand. "Alright, if you're smart, you know I'm a former Black Spider Ninja." He motioned to the mask on the wall. Ryu tensed. "I said former, dumb shit. When you killed our two leaders, Genshin and that old bat, our clan fell apart. Not going to say it wasn't something that I didn't see coming. We had a civil war over the leadership status. I took that opportunity to leave."

Ryu kept the kunai out just in case and shut the door.

"You said in your message you knew something about the attack in California. What was it about?"

He emptied his drink and sighed. "The Black Spider Clan had nothing to do with that. It was all done by the work of some Fiends, naturally. Some of my friends back in the clan wanted me to pass that little piece of information to you so you don't go kicking down their doors and pointing fingers."

"You left a note with the CIA to tell me that?"

Ryu's eyes narrowed. That seemed a bit too much for them. Even if they weren't responsible, they still claimed it most of the time. The incident in Vigoor was proof of that. They claimed to have created the whole mess and got some business as a result. They were in it for the money. It was never about protecting the innocent unless there was a profit in it for them.

"No, you pansy. There's more. They've got people looking into this. For a profit or something. I don't know. They won't tell me. But it's clear that the Fiends aren't acting how they usually did. I was there during the attack on your village when they released the Archfiend and began resurrecting the other Greater Fiends to return the world to the Stone Age. I left after that. But I remember how the Fiends operated. When they were leaderless they just roamed around killing whatever they wanted. When they had a leader they were driven, focused, wouldn't turn on _us_ during a fight or when we weren't fighting. This is totally different. They're not just heading places to stall you. They were looking for something."

Hayabusa reached for his phone then paused.

"I know that they're looking for something because of the trail they're leaving. No doubt you're already on it, but in case you weren't, I wanted to show you this." He got up, leaving his weapons and reached into the desk.

When the Black Spider Clan had made the move to the modern age, using guns and explosives made by the new era, some gave up their old tradition. This man here wasn't a rare thing to find. Some liked the idea of a new life, free from the violence of what it meant to be a Ninja. Ryu knew one that had made a good life for herself. She opted out shortly after the incident with Genshin. It had been months since he'd seen or heard from her. Not that he kept up with her anyways.

He retrieved a map and sat it on the table. Ryu walked over slowly and looked at it. The trail that he had started back in Cabo San Lucas, went up through Ciudad Constituction, Loreto and then to Mexicali, El Centro, and then finally stopping in San Diego. It was a near match to the one that Ryu had as well. His was dated a bit further back. Obviously the Black Spider Clan had lost a good amount of resources with Genshin dead and their witch out of the picture. How much longer until they were gone for good?

"I'm sure you can guess that what they're following isn't a Greater Fiend. They march to one direction. They don't zigzag like this." He walked over to his fridge and retrieved a bottle and started downing it. Whipping his chin, he said, "Look, I know we've had our problems in the past, but I don't care. I never did care about the Fiends or the grudge between our clans. I had enough of that when I was little. I watched my three older brothers and one younger brother die, one to your clan and the others to the Fiends. So you can guess that I'm not doing this just for the people. I'm doing this because I hope that you kill them and die in the process. Now get out my place."

Ryu nodded his thanks and left. He waited until he was two blocks away before he made his call. Irene would wanna know about this. Mizuki would have better resources to watch Japan at the moment in case whatever the Fiends were trailing turned up there. San Diego was a big place. But with the recent attack everyone would be trying to leave and the government would be trying to contain them.

"Irene."

"_It's Rachel."_

Ryu checked the number. _She must have grabbed hold of her, _he surmised. "Sorry about that. Have you seen anything odd besides the Fiend attack?"

"_What do you mean?"_

"I just talked to a source that confirmed a theory. The Fiends are trailing something. Something that's clearly smart enough to not move like a Fiend. And it is not animal. Not with the distance it's traveled. We're talking a human." He stopped and remembered the Alpha was still out there. He doubted that the Fiends would go after that. Kasumi was in charge of hunting that thing down. With Helena helping keep tabs on her, Ryu would have already been alerted to an oddity with Kasumi. "Did it look like a trail was being made through the city?"

"_I can check. Give me about twenty minutes. Irene is asleep. Time difference." _

Ryu checked the clock on his phone. He was in Japan and it was only two in the afternoon, so it'd be something like two in the morning for them, maybe later.

"_I'll call you back." _

"Thanks." He hung up and dialed Helena's number. Last he checked she was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on her ship looking for Alpha and trying to regain the good name of DOATEC. He was honest in his dislike for the company. Helena was trying to do well, but that was going to take a while with Donavon still out there somewhere. It was too clear that he was alive. And with Christie nowhere to be seen and that other guy, Rig, missing, there was no way of knowing just what the other half of DOATEC was up to.

The phone rang for a good ten seconds before it picked up. _"This is DOATEC. My name is Samantha, how may I help you?"  
_

"My name is Hayabusa Ryu. I need to speak with Helena."

"_One moment, sir."_

Ryu kept walking and paid for a small bottle of water as he waited. When a voice finally spoke, it was Helena. _"I know about the attacks in San Diego and the Alpha had nothing to do with it. Kasumi, however, is in California, naturally, and believes otherwise. MIST might be involved in this as well. But we have no way of knowing. Kasumi last transmission was well over eighteen hours ago and she said that she had spotted something amiss when she arrived in San Diego."  
_

"Amiss? How?" Straight to business. That was hardly like her. Usually she was all high spirited and over joyed to know that one of her former attackers were trying to contact her. It was often the other way around. She contacted them through Zack, tried to persuade them into doing something for the image of her company, and then get something out of it.

"_If you'd let me finish I can explain." _She sighed in frustration. _"We have surveillance satellites watching her. Right now she's holding position and I'm sending in a ground team to make sure she's okay. But what she found was someone running at high speed and _luring _the Fiends that were chasing him or her into traps. This person has done this before. Or so she surmises. And there was something else that she found. She took a picture of it. I have a helicopter in route to pick you up. Hayate and Ayane are already on board and I've been quarrying the JASDF for the assistance of Mizuki, since you worked so well with her."_

"You've been keeping tabs on me." Ryu admitted he wasn't surprised by that either. DOATEC had the resources and the manpower to do just about anything. They could control the world through the political world with as much sway as they had. Why Helena didn't do this, Ryu didn't know. "Where is the Helicopter going to land? I'll meet it there."

"_I'm sure that as a Dragon Ninja, you can find it with no problems." _

The phone went dead. Ryu checked it and then placed it in his pocket. It was time to get dressed for work. No doubt his ride would be here soon.

(-)

Kasumi glanced over the edge of her cover and spied the Fiend again. The pink creature was lumbering through the forest sniffing the ground. Smaller Fiends hovered around it, all of them sniffing and searching.

It didn't make any sense. They had seen her. Heard her approach. And they had to be picking up her scent. Why weren't they attacking her in a frenzy of limbs and fire blasts? The only reason she could surmise was that they were being ordered quiet harshly into obeying. They'd leave her be until she grew too irate for them to ignore any longer. But why ignore her at all? Fiends didn't operate this way. Whatever they were after was worth her attention now. Alpha or not.

She checked her phone again. She was still out of range. Leave it to the technology to fail when a falcon wouldn't. Too bad she didn't have access to them. Why did she agree to take the stupid thing? Helena could have just given her a radio or something. This stupid thing didn't work half of the time anyways because of where she always ended up. A month ago she was in Africa and the reception down there was worse than it was here. Antarctica had better reception than this place.

The Fiends moved on, shifting through the trees and blending with the shadows. One of them yapped something at the other and they went running again.

Kasumi broke from her cover and took after them, leaving them with a twenty second head start. It was impossible to lose a Fiend so big, let alone an army of the things rushing in one mass direction. Where were they heading?

It was several minutes before they stopped again. One of the large pink Fiends turned her way, roared, and then was swatted down like a rude puppy by a creature in white and black armor. Kasumi locked gazes with it. Yellow eyes peered through a metallic face mask. They were the eyes of a man somewhere between dead and alive. Not quite dead. Not quite alive. His armor marked him as either a Greater Fiend or a member of a Ninja clan that was trying to use the Fiends to some end. He possessed no aura like all the other Fiends… or humans for that matter.

His armor clinked as he walked back to the front of the back. He ignored her, too.

The smaller Fiends turned and hissed something at her, shrieking in their own little language, before they obeyed some silent order to follow. Kasumi kept an even greater distance after that. It was a check and a warning. If she got too close again, it would attack without hesitation.

She stayed a minute behind them. She never lost real sight of them. And like before, they didn't stop for several minutes. When they did, the one in white was looking around. The Fiends all stood around it, some wobbling side to side like they were bored or unsure, others standing statue still as they awaited their next set of orders. Kasumi took cover and watched it. She took a photo of it with her phone and then stowed it away. The white armored creature turned its sights on her again. She wasn't too close to any of them, but it seemed to have either become aware of her again, or had grown irate with her.

Her hand went to her weapon. The white one had no weapon on its person. Taking another look at it, it really didn't. Its armor wasn't really armor. It looked like flesh that had hardened. The face mask was a perfect oval, complete with only two eye slits. On its shoulders up front were two red eyes that blinked and looked around in a frenzied state. The hands were more claws than actually hands and the feet were about the same. The only odd thing was that it had reddish hair. Actual hair, not fur, growing out of the mask and ending short of its butt.

It gave a billowing growl, turned its attention back to the others, and waved one hand. They vanished. It remained and looked at her. It took one step and then reeled back like an invisible hand had slapped it. It staggered and took a knee. It bowed its head and then left with the others. It didn't seem happy.

Kasumi held a hand over her chest. It was going to attack her. It was clear when an aura appeared. It was full of malice and hate. It was a Fiend alright. An unusual Fiend, to be frank.

She checked her phone. A signal at last.

She sent the image over the phone to Helena, then noticed that the signal was cut out again. _At least the image went_, she thought. It was time to start following them again.

(-)

Helena Douglass sat behind her oak desk with her hands neatly laced together on top of it. Gathered before her was the most famous and arguable the most powerful set of people on the planet. Ryu Hayabusa, dawned in his famous gear, stood to her left with Ayane, the head of the Mugen Tenshin Hajinmon Sect. To her right was Hayate, leader of the Mugen Tenshin Clan, and Rachel, a woman who was cursed with the blood of the Fiends pounding in her veins. Directly in front were people of political power and the biggest sway over all military groups, Irene Lew, and Mizuki McCloud.

She would admit that under other circumstance this meeting wouldn't be happening. During their stint together when she did the last tournament, she had asked for their aid. It proved useful, to some extent. MIST was located and destroyed, but the core members remained. Even with the destruction of now three confirmed bases, they were still up to their damn tricks. It was infuriating. Why couldn't Donovan just die already? He was causing too much pain and had ruined her company.

"I trust you enjoyed your flight?" Zack stood off in the distance holding his bloodied nose. Ayane decked him real good when he made a pass at her. He'd have been dead if said pass involved touching. Hayate would have stepped in and played big brother.

"Get to the point," Irene grumbled. She wanted to get back out there.

"Straight to business." Helena clicked a button on her desk and the lights went out. A single light shinned and projected an image on the wall. It was map of California and Mexico. "I understand that some of you know this already, so bear with me, please. Not all of you are probably up to speed on this." The attacks started no more than three weeks ago. Their first appearance was in Guatemala. Eighteen were reported dead. From there the trail heads through Salina Cruz, Mexico City, Leon, Guadalajara, Tepic, Hermosillo, and then Mexicali, which was where the first sighting truly took place by all eyes when they attacked a news crew. From there it has been one place after another with the death count now reaching in the thousands with property damage in the billions. Thermal mapping shows that it's a large force moving as one."

The image changed, showing a giant red spot on the map, a close up of Mexicali. Ryu shifted uneasily. How close was that image? The buildings could hardly be seen and the force nearly covered the entire place. How did they go unnoticed this whole time?

"We don't know what they're doing, but they aren't acting like the others Fiends we've seen."

She clicked a button and the image changed to a video. Soldiers were firing at the Fiends. The larger Fiends ignored them; turning towards them once or twice as if they were going to attack then retreated. The smaller Fiends rushed them and fell to the side as if an invisible string had been cut and dropped them. The entire thing was caught by a surviving cameraman. He was lucky. Stupid for doing this. But still lucky.

"A little over two hours ago I got an image from Kasumi. She's trailing them." Ayane snorted in shock. Hayate shifted nervously. Helena clicked the button again and in image came up. It was blown up for them to see and in great detail.

It was a humanoid creature of some kind wearing white and black armor. Long, reddish hair fell from the back of its head where the mask didn't cover. It had sickening yellow eyes. They looked half dead and half alive. Somewhere in the middle between the two. Whatever it was, it clearly was showing great restraint if Kasumi was alive to send this. Though it didn't possess a weapon of some sort. Ryu thought that was odd. Judging by its size, it had to be at least six foot tall easy. Most Greater Fiends of this height used a weapon. Only a few of the larger ones ever used weapons.

"We were able to get in contact with her roughly twenty minutes ago," Helena continued. "She's in Oregon right now and still heading north. The pack of Fiends she's following has increased their numbers." Again the image changed showing a massive heat spike. There had been well over two thousand marching through that state right now. "The National Guard, Marines, and Army are securing the towns and evacuating everyone in their way. And that's where you come in. Mizuki. Irene. I defer to you now."

Mizuki stepped forward and grabbed a small remote to control the next set of images that were sure to appear. "I'll be brief. The U.S has called in for aid and we've replied. The JASDF will once again be at your services and we'll provide logistical support throughout this event. That said; we have some new information regarding the situation. A few miles south of the Oregon border we got a thermal reading in the Klamath National Forest. Two of them to be accurate. One is obviously the Fiends, and the other," she clicked the button and the image turned to a single figure that was glowing yellow and red, "was a man being chased by them. His path is being followed by the same Fiends and we've been keeping a close eye on him. Sadly, when he exited the forest and crossed the border, we lost sight of them. We're still trying to find out."

"How'd you lose sight of him?" Ayane asked carefully. Helicopters were annoyingly hard to escape from once they found you. Never mind losing them in an open field or forest. With their little gadgets it made escape near impossible.

"We're still looking in on that." Irene answered carefully. "Oregon has been evacuated for the direction that the Fiends are heading. We're sending in you all in to find and beat these things while securing the target that they're chasing. We'd like to break you into teams, if that's alright. Or you can solo this stuff to cover more ground. You're choice."

"Solo," Ryu answered softly. "If the Fiends are chasing after someone, we'll need all the manpower we can get to find and secure him before he's killed."

"Then we have a few entry points for all of you. Judging by the speed they're moving, we're putting something somewhere near Applegate Lake. The projected path takes the Fiends and by chance our target through that area. We have helicopters on standby. I'd suggest you get to them."

The Ninjas and one Fiend Hunter nodded before vacating the area.

Mizuki closed her eyes. Irene was her senior her. CIA was going to have a field day controlling the JASDF for the time being.

"There's something still puzzling me," Irene admitted as she faced down the head of the DOATEC conglomerate. "Why are you helping us in this matter? It doesn't really suit you."

Helena would be the first to admit that if this were anyone else, she'd be wary of the situation as well. DOATEC didn't stick their neck out for anyone… at least not in the old days from nearly three years ago. They still held their little pet projects, but that was military usage and home usage. She was trying to take the company in a new direction and free them all from the shackles that Donovan had put them in. It seemed like so little just to help the world become a better place with all the evil that it had committed.

"I'm doing this because I want to correct the sins of the past and wash them all away. I'd spill a river of blood so thick that time would never allow the stains to fad if it would make DOATEC look better towards the world. I would drag only myself down that path. My father's company didn't deserve what happened to it, and as a result, a lot of people were hurt. I want to fix it all. That's why I took over DOATEC. This seems so small with all the things it's done."

"Trying to clear your conscience?" Mizuki asked. Some of their tech did come from them. Parts of it were still from LOA. They may have been evil, but their weapons were sure good. "No one is perfect. I have my flaws. I think the world already forgave you, anyway." She tapped Irene and motioned towards the door. "We should get in position. Can't keep those Ninja waiting."

Irene nodded quietly.

Helena was left to her thoughts. She starred out the window and watched as a single helicopter departed.

Was it wrong to help them try and fix this problem? Ryu and his clan had been fixing it for years without aid from anyone else. And the Fiends had remained in check long before the Dark Dragon Blade was released from it shrine all those years ago. That was when things went to hell. The Fiends became a threat. They appeared out of nowhere and began their campaign of carnage for the past five years. After the incident involving LOA and the Regent of the Mask, things had quieted down for a while.

Now trouble was brewing.

It irked her something fierce to know that the Fiends all came from them. She could transform right now from what she understood. How did that feel? Why weren't the governments of the world even trying to contain these things and use them? That sure seemed like a big waste of tax dollars in trying to defend against them rather than corral, study, and use them as weapons. It could have just been that someone high enough up saw too many horror movies.

Good call if that were the case. She doubted it though.

"Helena," Zack said softly, "we need to get to the command deck to help. Or do you want some more time alone?"

She shook her head. Her thoughts could wait. Work came first. "No. Let's go."

(-)

It didn't take long for them to get to Applegate Lake. It took even less time to find Kasumi, who was either unfortunate or fortunate to run into Ayane as a partner. The two didn't say a word when they met up. Kasumi brushed past her and kept heading northwest. The first set of words to form from either of them was when Kasumi asked how she had been since they last meet. Naturally, Ayane didn't really answer. She offered a look that silently told her she was fine and that Hayate was alright as well.

Ten minutes later saw them finding Rachel. She was crouched over a pool of green blood and shaking her head.

"It's dead…wherever it is," she reported. The bloodstain was too big for it to be anything but a kill.

Kasumi kept on moving. Ayane followed with Rachel bringing up the rear. Too bad the blond couldn't run as fast as them. Kasumi had to slow down just to make things easier for her. Rachel may have been powerful and cursed with the blood of the Fiends, but she was by no means fast enough to keep up with them.

A few minutes later and they were knee deep in bodies of the Fiends. It was a battlefield that they came across. The stench was horrendous. Fly's already swarmed into the creatures. Rachel checked one of them over and said, "These are fresh. No more than a few hours, I'd say."

Ayane looked around and gestured in a wide circle with her arms. "So we're off on the location?"

Rachel shook her head. The sensation was still here. Even before they landed it had hit her. The Fiends were still close. And why hadn't the helicopters picked this up? Surely they would have seen an entire area covered in pink body parts and green blood. The blood was even draining into the water and making it look murky. No doubt it was killing the wildlife. Animals stayed clear of the corpses though. Years of evolution probably told them that eating a Fiend was a bad idea.

The feeling became a dull ache the pinched between her shoulders. The pain didn't let up. It began throbbing as they started moving again.

A feeling of dread soon washed over all three of them. Kasumi dropped to one knee and held her head. Ayane staggered back and blinked her eyes repeatedly. Rachel leaned against her weapon, almost falling to a knee as well. The sensation left them queasy and breathless. Ayane was the first to recover.

"A barrier," she proclaimed. She reached forward and her hand made contact with something. "A dual barrier," she added in amazement. The more barriers were layered over others the more people were used. Momiji could make one strong barrier that she deemed unbreakable, but the toll was that it would still hurt her if stressed too much. "There's probably a weak point somewhere…" She dragged her hand across it. This was a human made barrier. A ninja barrier. Not a Fiends' barrier.

Kasumi recovered and helped Rachel to her feet. Ayane continued to stride around the part they'd found and poke it. It was several minutes later before Ayane smiled. With a quick series of incantations she glowed purple and punched the barrier with all her might. A doom of pure white formed for the world to see. It wasn't all that big. It probably was only five hundred feet in diameter. The entire barrier moaned as if it were a living thing. Ayane's attack revealed it, but didn't break it. When her technique ended she backed away and shook her head.

"It's tougher than I thought," she admitted heatedly. Where was Momiji when you needed her?

"_Do you think we can bomb that thing to open it?" _Irene's voice came over the channel.

"_No," _Ryu answered. Rachel just stared at it and tried to find Ryu. He had to be nearby if he was answering a question on this predicament. _"We can't bomb it. This barrier is on a time lapse. We can destroy it, but it won't do us any good. The creator already left."_

"_Are you sure?" _Mizuki inquired. _"We would have seen anyone moving through the forest."_

"And yet you missed a giant field of corpses,_" _Rachel put in. She sighed and shook her head. That was unbecoming of her. "Is it possible that he can teleport or something? This isn't something a Fiend can make. At least… not one that I've seen."

"_The barrier is getting smaller. So that means that the creator left or is running out of strength. In either case, he'll be revealed before long," _Hayabusa explained carefully.

"_And when the barrier falls, the Fiends will approach again," _Hayate finished worryingly.

Kasumi touched the barrier and felt it pulse beneath her fingers. It was shrinking at a small rate. It would be a couple of hours before it fully collapsed in on its self. Why would the person create a barrier like this? If the caster was doing this to protect something or himself, he could have come up with a better way to ensure his own safety and survival. Even then she would have had a…

Kasumi stopped that train of thoughts and began running again. Ayane looked at her sister than her eyes snapped wide. Why hadn't she thought of that? If the barrier was shrinking, a Fiend wouldn't know better. It would simply wait instead of look for the one that made it if their target was inside. The barrier was only getting smaller because the caster was gone. He must have vacated the area as soon as he put it up. There was no other explanation or they'd have seen something even from the sky.

Rachel followed, but lagged behind.

Kasumi jumped over the smallest part of the lake and got to the other side. She passed Hayate without a word. He followed when Ayane appeared. Ryu arrived soon after with Rachel saying she was getting a ride from one of the helicopter pilots.

Kasumi came to a sudden halt. She looked left, right, and then up. There was no sign of the barrier maker. The stretch of road they were on was blocked off for the safety of the towns or cities ahead. The road was more bridge. She leaned over the side, not carrying that her panties were visible and blinked twice at what she saw.

Ryu grabbed Kasumi, jumped back, and rolled out of the way as a black blade emerged from beneath the bridge where'd she had been standing. The blade wiggled and then began making a direct charge for the two. Hayate intercepted it with his own but the sword sank back into the ground and vanished before it got two feet away from him. With the sword gone it wasn't long before the entire street was destroyed in a shower of molten earth. The falling pieces stung Hayate's face as he backed up. From above a shadow loomed over them.

It was a humanoid creature wearing dark blue and black knight armor in a stylized pattern of a demons and skulls. In one clawed hand it held the black blade, a sword that could have rivaled the Dark Dragon Blade in sheer size, while in the other it gathered a pulsing blue flame that beat like a heart. Blue flamed eyes stared intensely down on them from its vantage point as a fluttering black cape flowed from it like a thing possessed. The sword moaned softly. It was a creature like known he'd seen before. Doku wore armor, but not like this.

This was a Greater Fiend for sure.

…A Greater Fiend that didn't act like one he'd seen either.

It turned away, looked south, and then snarled something before turning into a blue flame that vanished before their eyes.

Ayane started running south. A blast of wind picked up and in the distance a bright pillar of light formed. All sound ceased to exist for a mere second. Then a boom so loud it dropped Ayane and Kasumi both to their knees echoed from the light. A roar that sounded like nails on a chalkboard screamed into existence and the winds picked up as a tornado formed above them and plowed into the ground. Its path would take it back to the pillar of light. Then the sky went dark. Lightning wove deadly pattern in the sky. Thunder sang its crushing tunes. And the rain fell from the heavens as hundreds of flying Fiends descended from the skies.

They watched as the hoard of flying Fiends began to dive down near where the pillar of light was. It soon faded, vanishing under the sea of leather wings.

Ryu started running. This sprung the others from their daze. They jumped over all obstacles in their way as vehicles, dead Fiends, and pieces of earth were hurled in their direction from the force of the tornados. Two more appeared and began to pick even more stuff up to hurl at them. Hayabusa stopped, brought his hands together and force his Ki into a tight ball at the palm of both hands. A chunk fell from the sky and Ryu fired away. The piercing ball of pure brilliance drove through the chunk of earth and blew it apart. The others ran through the falling debris. Ryu followed not soon after.

There was a loud scream of pain and then a chunk of the earth rose. They came to a stop and waited for the earth to settle. A bolt of lightning struck close enough for them to touch. The light blinded them and left a ringing in their ears. For several seconds they were dazed and confused. When their senses returned they were staring at a large open pit where the Greater Fiend from before, along with the one that Kasumi had gotten a photo of, while a third stood on the edge of the pit, his scythe-like arms crossed over its chest. It was not human.

This was a creature of jumbled body parts. Its skin was leather and brown. It had no neck. Only a head, chest, a pair of large wings, and a snake-like body from the chest down. Horns protruded from its head near its eyes. It was larger than the other two. With where it stood on its body, it measured at ten feet high. There was no telling how long the rest of its body was.

Dozens of Fiends hovered around the corners of the pit, all of them howling joyfully to the sight before them. A few edged closer to the fighting; only to be struck down by the lone human that was fighting them. _He _made a point to destroy anything that got too close if he was able to. The two Greater Fiends he fought stood back as the smaller ones charged in, but the white one seemed impatient, annoyed even, that the smaller ones were taking over for it.

The lone human was oddly dressed, even by their standards. He wore a grey high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a zipper and blue wrist warmers over his arms. Dark blue pants with a blue cloth hung from halfway up his stomach to his knees. A purple rope belt around his waist, tied in a bow, completed the image with a wood scabbard on the resting neatly behind him. Red eyes scanned all attackers with complete precision. No detail was lost on him. His raven hair clung to his neck and face. A headband was tied over his head with a piece of scratched up metal sown on to it.

Ryu jumped and glided down to aid him. The others followed.

One of the smaller Fiends turned, howled, and the one that had been on the cliffs edge darted forward. It was fast for its size. Ryu forced himself left while the others scattered right. It slammed into the opposite side and turned to face them, a twinkle of pleasure forming in the oddly four slitted silver eyes it possessed.

They landed and the Fiends circled them. The one in blue armored halted all aggression and turned to face the new arrivals. The white one then went berserk; attacking the lone human was ferocious strength. The sword wielding young man proved too quick for it to hit and was able to dodge all of its attacks.

The Fiends howled and yammered away as they began their charge for the four ninjas. A wave of the hand from the blue armored Greater Fiend, and they all stopped, some so quickly they fell forward. With one hand gripping the sword's pommel it clove the air in a joyous howl. Ryu ducked down to avoid the swing. Everyone backed up. The Greater Fiend showed no fear and swung again. Ryu parried the blow and retaliated with a kick. Its ribs took a painful caress, but it did not back down. It swung again and again. With each strike a little more of its talent shined through.

Ryu took a knee as it grabbed the pommel with both hands and swung downward. The Dragon Ninja shook his head and jumped back. Something was wrong. He felt weak. Tired even. They hadn't been fighting for long.

The Fiend didn't let up. It surged forward, slashing away at the air in front of him. Ryu blocked, parried, and dodged each strike until his back was against the wall. Kasumi jumped in, attempted to block the next strike and watched as her wakizashi was slain before her eyes. It shattered into pieces. The sword continued to go down, cleaving through her flesh with the greatest of ease. Her chest was split open. Blood poured freely. She dropped clutching her chest and heaving.

It held the sword high and brought it down. Ryu grabbed Kasumi and dove away. The sword met the earth and reputed the ground, creating a small ditch that stretched a dozen meters. It turned slowly, anger flashing in its eyes. One gauntlet covered hand rose. Hayate knocked his fellow shinobi down and the rock wall behind them coughed and broke. Water began to flood the small crater. Hayate grabbed a fist size chunk of rock and hurled it at it as it prepared a second shot. The fist sized chunk of rock wrenched its pointing finger aside and destroyed a helpless pink Fiend. It vanished without a trace.

The white armored Fiend sailed over head, nearly smashing into its dark brother, and hit the ground with a loud crack.

Lower its aiming finger, the dark armored Fiend turned slowly towards the odd human and let loose a low growl. "You persist too long after your own defeat." Her voice was sweet, carrying no malice in it. A voice of the heavens to deceive the people it slew.

With quickness too fast for its size, it appeared before him and slashed at him. He ducked back, avoiding the blade with an even greater quickness. She snorted and began slashing tirelessly at him. The white one jumped over its sister and came down on top of the lone human. He barely avoided the landing and retaliated with a thrust of his sword.

It was his first and last mistake.

The giant scythe armed Fiend shot out of the ground, knocking his aim and balance off. The young man juked to the right, avoiding the blade arm of the large Greater Fiend. His movement left him open to the next attack that came from the female Greater Fiend. She slashed upwards. He leaned back, but the blade caught him under his right eye. The blade passed with ease through flesh and destroyed the eye in the process. The young flipped backwards, avoiding any and all attacks from the female Fiend that she might try. He clutched his eye and in that moment he was defeated.

The snake-like Fiend shoved one of its massive scythe arms through his stomach and picked him up. He yelled in pain. His weight was slowly doing him in as the bladed arm was sharper than it appeared and being picked up, the blade slowly began to slice through his flesh.

He felt weightless not a second later as the ground came rushing back to him. He hit hard.

Ryu stood protectively over him and glared at the Fiend. Green blood showered from the destroyed arm. It wiggled like a fish out of water for a few added seconds then stopped and sneered from its trap-like jaw. The four mandibles that made up its face twisted into a look of pure pleasure as the bleeding stopped. Green foam extended from its missing limb and hardened before them, turning back into the severed limb. A test swing came and it sneered at the Hayabusa.

The flying Fiends began howling and dove down towards them. Lightning arched in the sky and zapped dozens of them. Silence suddenly hit them all. The Greater Fiends stopped, looked to the sky curiously.

"Disappear," the young man whispered with a snarl, "with a roar of thunder!" He thrust a sparkling covered hand from the sky to the ground.

From the clouds a great bolt of lightning zipped towards the ground. It twisted and coiled before hitting, morphing into the form a Chinese styled white dragon. It roared at all before it. The smaller Fiends backed away. The Greater Fiends stood their ground. The dragon made of lightning surged forward and slapped the ground hard. A sonic boom like none before sounded. A painful bright light filled everyone's vision. There was no wind. No sound. Nothing could be felt or heard for several seconds. Then like water filling a void it all came rushing back.

Hayate dropped to his hands and knees. Blood leaked from his ears. He rolled over clutching his head. His eye sight returned and his vision was filled with a blurry outline of the white Greater Fiend stalking towards Ryu and the young man. The others soon emerged in his field of vision. All three were unscathed. It was probably a testament to their power. Greater Fiends were champions of death, nearly incapable of dying by normal methods. It took powers beyond human levels to slay some or weapons so powerful that destiny played a role in those who took them up.

Gunfire sounded. The white one took a bullet to the head. It turned as if were annoyed. The scythe-armed Fiend burrowed underground and vanished. The female Greater Fiend grabbed the white one and vanished before them. The other Fiends were all fried by the skill used by the young man. Surviving Fiends were mowed down with extreme prejudice. Two helicopters hovered a hundred feet off the ground, their gun barrels smoking. Rachel was leaning outside of one, her Type 666 Heavy Machine Gun.

Hayate rushed to Kasumi. She was alive, but barely. Ryu tended to the young man. As the helicopters landed, the two wounded fighters were scooped up and brought onboard where medics began to tend to them. Rachel gave Ryu a harsh look and then looked down at the wounded young man. "He's alive," Ryu answered quietly. Yes. He was alive… but only barely.

A/N

Okay so as you can tell this story will focus with Sasuke as a main crossover person. I wanted to state that the reason I chose Sasuke is for the stories sake, which will be further explained down the road. Sasuke, as we've seen as of lately, has made the change to wanting to protect the village and by default, the world, from Obito and Madara. He wants to change the world to make it better, or so he's saying. To that end, I'm using him for this because I never really did dislike Sasuke. He was always a cool person and showed a more realistic side to, well, humanity as a whole. One action, no matter for what good intentions you had, can cause a bad outcome. Sasuke is living proof of this to some extent.

Now the next thing is that this story is going to be updated slowly. I've had a lot of thoughts on this story and have wanted to do it. So I'm working this one slowly. So we might not see an update for a while. But I will be working on it, and the other stories I'm doing. My Curses is almost over for the arc we're doing, along From Shinobi to Mage. We're breaking down all stories into arcs now because we're wanting to get to other stories and don't want to tax ourselves. This story is my own little project, so keep that in mind please if you don't see an update for a few weeks or even a month.

I will answer questions if you have any in your reviews if they don't pertain to future events for this story.

Now so we're clear, this takes place after the events in Ninja Gaiden 3 and Dead or Alive 5. Now I could be wrong in my assumption on this, but I'm working with the idea that an "Alpha" is still out there because of the ending in Dead or Alive 5, hence the reason that it was mentioned.

And I think that's everything I wanted to state. So please read and review.


	2. One Bad Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

This story is entirely fan-made and fictional. Any acts that you might find offensive, disguising, inhuman, wrong or just don't like, we are not liable for. You are reading this story of your own free will and not being forced, if you don't like something we are not forcing you to stay and read it. Please leave the page and re-frame from reading the chapter and or story. All Copyrighted Characters belong to their respect owners. We don't claim anything that is not our own creation and are merely using them for fan made material.

We accept constructive criticize and help but being rude and disrespectful will not be tolerated. This is done for the fun of writing not to make every little person happy, while making people happy with are stories is great we are not here for Money, Fame or Fortune this is done for the simply joy of writing.

Chapter 1

"He can't get out of there, can he?"

Ryu wondered the same thing. Rachel's question was a good one for Helena. The poor blond was a little worried as well.

Not even two hours had passed since they found him, and already things were looking grim. Reviewing the footage they had of his fight, for what they had anyways, revealed that his monstrous technique pulled lightning right from the heavens during the storm. Such a feat wasn't possible for even the legendary Super Ninja, Ryu Hayabusa. His amazement at the sheer skill and power needed to harness such a thing was without a doubt, amazing to him.

Of course this also brought in some doubt that they could contain him. What were the limitations to such an attack? Did he need to see the clouds to do it? Did he even need a storm to summon such a thing? And who was to say he didn't have more surprises other than that little light show. It was astonishing they even survived. The damage was beyond anything Ryu could do using all of his power at once. And this unknown young adult did something he couldn't do. Yeah, even he was doubtful that a fully steal reinforced room with an electrical shield to prevent escape was going to hold someone like that.

But it was amazing they survived the attack. The blue armored one shielded them, mostly likely to shield itself from the attack, and prevented near instant death. Unfortunately the sound couldn't be blocked, so for a couple of minutes the only thing anyone could hear was a constant ringing. Other than that, they were all fine with the obvious exception of Kasumi, who took the blue ones' sword across her chest, and this young man who was sleeping soundly with a missing eye and a wound to his gut.

Helena adjusted a pair of reading glasses. She was busying herself with the strangers' medical file so far. So far he was beyond anything she'd ever seen. Not that she was a doctor or anything. She could spot a few things; like that his skeleton structure was harder than most super humans. That really stuck out to her. Kasumi's old data still remained and her skeleton structure wasn't this hard. If she could look at Ryu's and compare she'd be happy. Sadly, Ryu wasn't going to let anyone but Irene get near him with a needle without a sword and Irene nearby for obvious reasons. DOATEC was still evil to him and even if Helena was doing good, that didn't mean everyone here was playing ball with her.

"Unless he has super human strength, not likely," she answered calmly. Rachel shrugged. That wasn't really the answer she was looking. "Look, I don't what he's capable of. Looking at all this," she raised the small touchpad and showed his file to her, "I couldn't tell you if he's even human. I don't know what some of this stuff even means. All I know is that according to this, his bone structure is harder than even the strongest fighter on record. Jane Lee broke most of his bones so many times that most of his are so sturdy you can't break them without going to the extreme. And that guy in that room has something harder than he does. You could probably drop him from a twenty story building on his head, and he _might _break his neck."

"The brain damage would obviously kill him," she retorted back heatedly.

"That's a given!"

Ryu closed his eyes. His patience was strained at the moment. Between finding three Greater Fiends that were more interested in a young man from god knows where, his abilities, and the fact that the Fiends had shown _way _more restraint than they usually would have in his presence, he was taxed enough to snap.

Still, Helena made a given point. His body was odd. Not just in the skeleton structure, but also on his overall status. All ninjas had an aura about them. It was something that some might call a shield or a barrier. It protected them from harm when focused with small or large amounts. Ryu could punch steal, dent it, and not worry about breaking a finger or dislocating something. It was how he fought off the Greater Fiends and Archfiends of the past. His first bout with them all those years ago trained him on how to fight them. His second encounter gave him further training and power to beat them. And then his last encounter, though it was with LOA, was his mastery of this art.

With this he could heal himself through his aura through meditation, have quicker access to his Ninpo, and sharpen every aspect of his physical fighting prowess. He was literally a killing machine at this point in his life. The Dabilahro and Enma's Fang were proof of this. Before, he was thrown off balance by the sheer weight of Dabilahro whereas now he could swing it with one hand if it was called for. He could use the even heavier sword; Enma's Fang, in the air and perform his famous Izuna Drop on his foes with ease.

But this young man was different. Two hours ago he was in critical condition with no chance of surviving. A few drugs and exposure to the Hayabusa clan's healing herbs, the young man took an immediate change and his body turned stable. His wounds were almost all gone. His eye was not coming back and a scar was going to remain over the eye and stab wound to his gut. How much longer would he sleep? Ryu was certain that if he were in his shoes he'd be out for a week at most, even if his wounds healed that fast. Why did his wounds heal so quickly? That couldn't be normal. But he didn't sense any Fiend blood in him. Rachel didn't either.

"He's not a citizen of Japan or the U.S," Irene informed the three as she walked up with Mizuki. Cana trailed behind her, clinging happily to her adopted mothers' arm. When she saw Ryu she ran towards him and clung to his leg, smiling happily. "So that only leaves the rest of the world."

"But he's clearly a ninja," Mizuki countered. "We don't take them into consideration. We can put a census out for them." Ryu nodded grimly. If he was a Ninja, they were looking at a harder approach to this. Where he came from, who he was affiliated with, and just what he was doing being hunted by the Fiends would take more than just words. A true ninja gave no answers. "But we can rule out the Mugen Tenshin and Hayabusa, clearly. Hayate and Ayane would have recognized him and if it was you… well…."

"Yeah," Ryu answered quietly. If it was one of his, he'd have already moved him towards his village for healing and questioning. Since he didn't belong to his clan, they couldn't move him to his village without extreme precautions. Enough people already knew the location of the Hayabusa village. They didn't need anymore. "We can rule out Black Spider Clan as well. All members have a mark on them to show they belong. It's not something that can easily be imitated easily."

Rachel looked back at the sleeping young man. "What about his weapons? Any way to trace them back to their maker? That sword of his sure seems unique. Sharpest steel metal I've seen in a while."

"I'm going to send it to Muramasa when I get a chance. It's doubtful that he can identify its origins. Chances are that it's just some sort of weapon with minor power. Nothing special."

Rachel doubted that. The sword alone slew dozens, maybe even hundreds of Fiends, before they arrived. The bodies were piled high. No way was that sword just a regular sword. Irene seemed unbelieving as well. She'd seen her fair share of powerful swords. His sword was rather powerful to slay as many Fiends as it did. Either that or he was truly lucky beyond all measures."

"What about that diary he had?"

Mizuki produced the object and tossed it to Ryu. He scanned it and then looked at her.

"Empty?"

"Afraid so."

Why keep a diary if you weren't going to write in it? Unless there was some sort of invisible code, it was truly empty. The Hayabusa was certain that there was something though. Why have it if you didn't write in the damn thing?

"What about Fiends we faced?" Rachel turned the conversation back to a more serious problem. Helena gave a shake of her head. "The video footage still too choppy?"

"Yes. It had to do with that bolt of lightning he brought down. The sonic boom was loud enough to distort the feed and break the camera."

Ryu rubbed his arms uncertain. That blue one was sure strange. The moment his sword had touched hers' he had felt a cold touch through his sword arm. It felt like the Kitetsu when the blade touched his flesh. Was that sword just like that one? It wouldn't be hard to make a new version of it.

There was also the other two to consider as well. The white one was a pure berserker type. It went insane when the blue one backed off. The blue one surely kept it in line. Or perhaps it was just like that and when the blue one backed off it became more fanatical in its combat style. It sure came alive right then. But Kasumi had said that it turned and tried to attack her right after she took the photo when she saw it the first time around. So it wasn't just fanatical in its fighting, it was also eager to fight as well. It was just really well tamed by its master, supposing it had one.

And what of the scythe-armed one? That one was a hell of a lot faster than its size would have suggested. It could burrow under the earth and had instant regeneration. Killing it would surely be a challenge. An arm that could grow back that fast meant that would be impossible to kill unless it had a set amount of damage it could only repair before it would have to leave and heal with time.

There was still something he was missing? Why had the young man made a barrier and then leave it? Something about that didn't make sense to him. He was doing a good job at avoiding the Fiends long before he made the barrier. What few sets of bodies they found were ones that had either been lucky and headed him off, or ones that had found him when he stopped to rest. The whole army that was following him was an hour behind him and their sense of smell was astounding. They would have known when he left.

"Is it possible that we missed something?" he asked out loud. Helena offered a funny look. "He was at least an hour ahead of the Fiends, correct?" She nodded. "Fiends have a good sense of smell. So they would know when he left the barrier. Why make it?"

"Hide something, perhaps?" Rachel offered. No sooner had she said that the very thought struck her. "We have to head back out there to see what he left. If he left anything."

"I can send someone to check it out," Helena offered. Ryu nodded his thanks. He doubted that the Fiends were going to let the young man get away with what he did. They were after him. That much was clear. Unless he took something and they didn't know where it was. "Now on to more pressing matters."

"Kasumi hasn't woken up," Mizuki informed them sadly. "She's still out. The wound has been closed up, but it cut through her lung and barely missed her heart. A centimeter closer and it would have nicked her superior vena cava, aorta, and left pulmonary artery. She's very lucky right now. But the wound has left a purple mass that we can't do anything about."

That was the catch to a new sword. It was something sinister beyond even what the Kitetsu could do. It would only be a matter of time before she woke up, died, or turned into Fiend. Ryu doubted very much that death or a corruption into a Fiend would take over her. Kasumi was strong willed. When she put her mind to something, she did it without regards for what might happen. If she wasn't that way, she would have never left her village to kill her uncle and she certainly would never be trying to fix all the past problems she caused.

"It's not growing," Irene stated calmly. "That's about the only good news concerning her health. Now we just need to figure out how to wake sleeping beauty up and we can get our answers."

"If he's a ninja, he won't give them," Ryu told them. "I'm going to go check on Kasumi." He excused himself. Cana returned to her adopted mothers' side and smiled fondly.

(-)

Kasumi's sword was indeed very broken. The blade was unsalvageable unless they reworked the whole thing. Unlike Ryu and Hayate's swords, her sword didn't have any special properties other than the materials used to make it. It was a sturdy weapon, but it wasn't anything when compared to a blade spellbound by ancient magic and materials. Ryu's sword, when combined with the Dragon's Eye, could kill with small wounds on Fiends, while Hayate's sword was sharp as the wind. Both blades could slice and kill with the greatest of ease.

Kasumi's sword couldn't do that.

It had required great skill and training. Its small size meant it was for speedy attacks. She delivered those nicely. Ayane remembered a few of them. Certainly the Fiends did as well, supposing any had survived a kiss from the cold weapon.

The only thing that the sword could be used for now was mild entertainment to one Ayane. The small tassel that hung from the end of the hilt was the source of her mild amusement as she let her mind wonder.

Ayane could kill Kasumi now. It would be so easy. She could end the whole thing with a simple flick of the wrist or a pillow to her face. There would be no more hunting. Kasumi would be dealt with. Hayate would be angry, yes, but it would finally end the torment of his burden as leader. He was both angry and happy with Kasumi. She opted for revenge when no one else would. She left the village to do so, all in the name of his honor. He couldn't be happier. However, the flipside to that was that she had left without alerting anyone and was thus labeled a missing ninja.

Ayane was tasked with hunting her half-sister down and ending her. Spellbound through a Genjutsu, she had fought Kasumi to end her, Hayate to stop him, and Ryu as well. They saved her. Pulled her from the cursed world she had come to see. But her orders remained. Kasumi had to die. There was no other way.

Her eyes panned over to her half-sister in the medical bed and thought about using her own dead sword to end her life. It would be ironic and beautiful.

"Don't even think about it."

The purple haired girl looked over her shoulder. There was Zack with his arms crossed over his chest. She wondered if he was a mind reader too. He was an odd man.

He unfolded his arms and walked over to the sleeping girl. Looking down at her, Zack wondered if Ayane hadn't already done something to harm her. "Why do you think the Fiends were after that one guy? Have they ever done that before?"

"I don't know," she lied heatedly. "Why do you care? Are you hoping to help Helena in capturing one and studying it?"

"No. I only want to help her get D.O.A.T.E.C back to what it was always back before it was corrupted. If I have to help them by staining my hands with evil, then I will. I will become evil myself if it means helping them returning to what they were."

"Admirable, but foolish. Evil is only in the eye of the beholder. Evil and Good are just labels to describe what another person likes or dislikes. They have no real meaning whatsoever."

Zack smiled good naturedly. Eyeing the purple haired girl, he stroked his chin and said, "I know you're lying about not knowing. You've been fighting the Fiends for years now when you're not dealing with the old D.O.A.T.E.C. You made the news, remember?"

Ayane put it out of her mind. That time had been a small moment. She aided Ryu in his fight against the Fiends when they were working with the Black Spider Clan. Her moment in the spotlight was only because she had been fighting in the streets to end several of the Fiends all at once while civilians escaped. A news crew, braving the conflict, recorded her in all her glory. Soaked in the blood of her enemies, she had torn at the Fiends like a wounded terrier. She beat them senseless and slew all that got in her way.

"They should have run," she said soberly. Two had died, but the third had escaped harm. "Why do you really care about Kasumi? You wouldn't be in here if you didn't."

"Really, Hayate asked me to do it. He wanted me to make sure that they didn't try anything. I know about your relationship. So I also wanted to make sure you didn't try anything."

"You think you could stop me?"

"Probably not. I'm not a fool. You hold back during your fights with others. You don't go jumping around, teleporting behind us, and using your weapons. If I fought the real you," he laughed, "you'd end me. But that's not the point I wanna make. I came here to keep you from doing something you'll regret. Did you think I didn't know about that fight you had with the Alpha? She gave you your chance to prove your worth and then returned your weapon to you. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but you were always in her shadow and she knew it and wanted you to have your moment. Or maybe I have the two of you pegged wrong."

Ayane clenched her jaw. That was about right. Kasumi, whether knowingly or unknowingly, had always been the light that blocked her own. She had tried to move out of it all the time, but only made things worse. With her defection from the clan, things only got worse. First it was revenge, in completing something Ayane and Hayate couldn't do together, then in becoming an experiment, her brain washing by Genra, her loss at the mountains, and then her minor victory in the forest. Kasumi was always there, standing in the way of her light, even when she tried to move out of it.

Kasumi couldn't take the full blame. Ayane knew she had been a problem as well. She hunted down her half-sister to end her life, forcing Kasumi to always be on the move. Ayane never got the respect of others because she was a bastard child. Kasumi was the princess, Ayane the monster. Their lives were at opposite ends to their status and lineage in life. Ayane never wanted Kasumi's spot in life, just the light, and to be looked on more favorably. So to that end she hated her for no other reason than to simply hate her. But that moment, along with her choice to help them end Donovan, was something she treasured. It was a rare moment of joy for both of them.

"I'd say you got us right," she admitted. "But laws are still laws."

"And those laws don't apply here. Look, we may need all the muscle we can throw at this, and you know it. Your sister might tip the balance in our favor. What if she dies, Hayate finds out, and kills you for revenge."

"He ordered me to end her."

"And suppose he has second thoughts? How many times have they met up and fought? Two, three times? Why didn't he kill her then?" Hayate was weak. That was all it really was. He didn't have the will to kill his own flesh and blood. Zack must have known that. "Look, all I'm saying is that your past grudges might have no water right now. Kasumi obviously cares about you. Just think about it."

The kunoichi got up and left. Zack was an ear sore for sure, but he had made a point. When her father, Raidou, attacked the village, a team of their best couldn't beat him. Ayane herself had lost, even with Hayate backing her up. No doubt she'd have been sent again to end him. Even then he didn't have those enhancements he had, and Kasumi brought him down, restoring the honor of her brother. There was no way Ayane could have done that, even working alone.

(-)

Ryu boarded the helicopter and waited for the pilot to finish his system checks. When it was finally in the air, the Hayabusa looked out the window and sighed.

He was missing something. He knew that. He just couldn't see at the moment. Ryu felt like it was staring him in the face. His senses had been mixed since getting back on the ship, but when he checked there had been nothing to report. It was odd.

"_We're heading back to Japan, right?" _

Ryu nodded. The pilot looked straight ahead, growling as he did. Just him and the pilot. That was going to be a fun flight for the pilot. It wasn't like Ryu was a talkative person. He just had a lot on his-

-the front of the helicopter suddenly vanished in a sea of red and yellow.

Ryu got up and looked down as the sensation of weightlessness hit him hard. His world flipped over and over until his strength gave out and he was sent flying out of it. Correcting his free-fall, he got sight of what hit the helicopter. A flying monster made human with armor over its entire body. A three fingered clawed hand pointed in his direction and from the tip of its finger came a bright light.

Twisting in the air, Ryu avoided the attack. It howled with laughter and vanished towards the ship. Ryu looked down and noticed that he was going to miss the ship entirely. It would take him a couple of minutes to get back.

A shadow surged under the ship and from the water large roots sprang up and began wrapping around the deck. It was going to drag the ship down. A single eye emerged from the water. It looked around feverishly. Ryu grabbed his sword and glided down towards it.

It sank into the water just as he hit, taking the roots with it as well.

A loud scream got his attention. Looking up, he could see dozens of Fiends running over the deck of the ship, all of them killing whatever got in their path. The big one had been just a transport.

(-)

Ayane ran through a group of guards that had opened fire on the purple creatures. Their weapons were good at keeping them back, but they lacked the real power to bring down the big ones. The smaller ones were mowed down until they had to run over a hill of corpses to get to them.

She cut and tore at them until none remained. Soaked in blood, she turned and began giving them orders. Whether they listened was up to them.

"Ayane!" Hayate shouted. He broke through the door, sword in hand, and looked at her with fear in his eyes. "You're alright," he seemed pleased. "Ryu went down in the ocean and is trying to get back up here." He tossed a com to her. "Helena said that she's getting multiple alert pings heading for the boy's room. They're here for him."

Slipping it into her ear, she could hear Helena and Mizuki giving out orders. Their target was in fact that wounded man's room.

"We need to get down there. Rachel's there right now, but she won't be enough."

"We'll hold down this area," one of the guards said. His team was finishing reloading and getting ready for the next fight. "Don't worry, we'll protect Kasumi." Hayate didn't have time for threats, so he left with Ayane. The guard posted two people at the door to her room, two inside, and then the rest covered the hallway.

(-)

The entire wall collapsed in a blaze of fire and smoke. The screeching of the Fiends on the other side of the hole was drowned out by the automatic gunfire. Helena didn't truly favor guns, but for a moment like this she sure did.

Once the gunfire ceased, Mizuki reloaded a fresh magazine into her rifle and breathed a sigh of relief. Short lived as it was, she ran over to one of the computers and started typing. Helena did the same while a team of D.O.A.T.E.C soldiers looked over the gaping hole in the wall. Alerts notices were going up everywhere all over the ship. Break in points were still being verified and there was no way of knowing just how many were truly on the ship.

"They're here for him," Irena told them. She pointed to one of the monitors. Rachel was defending the sleeping teen with her rifle in hand. She didn't have back up. "We need to move."

"I'll stay here and provide what support I can," Helena said. She sat down and started typing. "Forgive me if I'm a little rusty, but I'm not that skilled with a gun."

"Alright, what's the quickest way to him from here?"

"Cut through the kitchen and take the service passage through the quarters. You'll find a laundry chute that connects to the lower levels. From there you'll know where to head."

Metal stripping metal screamed through the ship. Everyone hit the ground clutching their ears. Helena rolled out of her chair and screamed. The noise stopped and the ship began to turn. Grabbing hold of the desk, Helena waited for the entire thing to capsize. When it didn't and things returned to normal, klaxons began blaring. The monitor showed sections of the ship glowing bright red. "We were hit by something big," Helena informed them. "The lower levels are flooding. Remote systems are working and sealing the areas up. We should be okay."

"We need to move. Whatever hit us might come back. We need to push the Fiends off the ship and then deal with the big thing." Raking her gun, Irena breathed one last sigh of regret. How come it was only through these situations she got to see Ryu? Couldn't they meet up somewhere that didn't revolve around fighting hideous monster or mad men? It would be nice for a change. "Let's get moving. You three stay here. The rest of you; with me."

The two women with military training walked out with the soldiers behind them. It was time to take back the ship.

(-)

Rachel backed up after barricading the door with whatever wasn't bolted down or didn't need to be moved. It wasn't much, but armed with her rifle, should anything that wasn't human try to get through the doors, she was sure that they'd have a hard time getting past her mini defense and her rifle. She gave the sleeping teen one last look over. He was breathing, alive, and still showing a strong pulse. She would have never questioned hoe people could sleep through something like this had she never been in this situation before.

A loud wailing scream echoed from behind the door and she readied her rifle. 

Two minutes later the door produced a fist sized hole. Rachel fired and heard more screeching not soon after. She unloaded the entire clip before the noise outside stopped and the feeling of the Fiends outside the door left her. She peered down her rifle sights through the hole but saw nothing. Waiting a few extra seconds, she slowly began making her move towards the door.

The feeling returned and she turned to face it, coming face to face with a large Fiend on all fours with an extra pair of hands up in the sky coming down on her. Rachel rolled and let him hit the floor. The ground buckled under it. Rachel brought her hammer to bear. It ignored her and charged towards the sleeping teen. That cemented it for her. They were here for him.

Rachel jumped to her feet and swung her hammer in a wide arc. It struck home. The Fiend turned and focused its attention on her for a brief moment before returning back to the sleeping teen. Raising both of its hands again for another smash, Rachel swung again, this time cleaving through its right arm and diverting the blow. It crushed the foot of the bed and howled in a blind rage as it turned to face her. She raised her rifle and fired from the hip, blowing holes into its gut. The rounds tore into the back wall. A spray of fine green blood coated the floor and wall.

The feeling of a Fiend hit her again. Rachel turned but was too slow. The Fiend barreled through her, shoving her to the floor and then pinning her with its oversized tail. This one wasn't like the other. It was more lizard but just as ugly. It screeched, looked over its shoulder towards the sleeping teen and then tried to crush the Fiend Slayer into the ground. Rachel tried pointing her rifle up, but it batted the weapon away and sneered down on her.

The ship rocked to the side suddenly. The Fiend fell over, bashed its head against the metal wall, and wailed in despair as Rachel sprang to her feet and removed its head with one swift smack of her weapon. It croaked and thrashed on the ground like a cat with a broken back. When it finally stopped moving, Rachel felt the pull again and this time turned towards the sleeping teen to see the Fiend's mouth twitching open and closed like a fish gasping for air. Her eyes were drawn quickly to the blood that was pooling from its chest and then to the hand that had pierced it.

The youth had awakened.

"You're awake." He turned to face her, his one eye blinking tiredly. They'd kept him medicated after his surgery. By all logical reasoning he shouldn't be up. "Introductions later. Just keep your head down!"

He blinked once and she suddenly felt very cold. His red eye stared right through her. Something inside screamed for her to look away, but she was too entranced with his hypnotic eye.

Like a dream she awoke suddenly and saw the raven haired young man at her side with his hand now firmly pressed into the chest of yet another Fiend. She hadn't felt that one appear. Moreover, she felt something off. There were eight bodies inside the room when in reality there should have only been three. Where the other five had come from she didn't know. The one she had awoken to that was slain by him would have counted as a fourth, but something was just off about it.

"Rachel," he said slowly as if testing the name out, "why did you bring me to this ship?"

"How do you know my name?" He paused and looked at her funny. It hit her then. "You hypnotized me during the middle of a fight?! What's wrong with you?"

"How did you break free?" He touched his missing eye. That shouldn't have stopped the illusion she was under. He was certain of it. One eye was more than enough to put someone into a trance and control them. She wasn't someone that could break free of that stuff could she? "Forget it. Why did you bring me here?! They're after me."

"I noticed!" A loud screamed grabbed their attention. The door buckled and fell over as Ayane kicked it down with a Fiend firmly pressed against it. Hayate was right behind her. Seeing the unknown man up, Ayane was quick to start asking question when Rachel cut her off. "We don't have time for that! These things after him exclusively. We have to protect him at all costs."

"That was the idea!" Mizuki replied as she slinked into view with Irena. "The area is secure."

"They're coming from the shadows. They did it three times to me. It's almost like any form of darkness they can see they'll use to get in."

"So what's your name?" Hayate didn't feel secure not knowing his name.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he grumbled. Looking them over, he shook his head. "Again, I feel the need to ask why you brought me here."

"You suffered extensive injuries. Life threatening." Mizuki suddenly got the idea that he didn't care. Checking her pistol, she added, "We figured they were after you. Fiends don't usually behave the way they were. So when you went down we brought you here for medical attention."

"I don't need medical attention."

"We can see that," Rachel said in a low, dangerous, voice. She wanted to scream right now. Not because everyone was basically asking questions that she felt they didn't have time for, but because of how cold he was. He wasn't even thinking them for saving his ass. He would have been dead if they hadn't brought him. "We need to get up top. From there, we can safely defend ourselves. They have the advantage in here." Rachel faced Sasuke and looked him over. "You were carrying a sword when we found you. The route we'll take will pass the weapons locker. We put it there."

The ship rocked again. Klaxons blared loudly. The ship swayed left, then right, and then back to the left before finally stabilizing.

"I'm on a boat?" Sasuke asked heatedly. Ayane gave him a funny look. "Are we in the middle of the ocean?" Mizuki nodded. "Why?"

"We thought it was safe," Irena said solemnly. They hadn't pictured this. "It doesn't matter. We just need to get up top and we'll be fine."

Sasuke shook his head angrily as he started running. The others followed. Hayate and Ayane were the only ones to keep up with him, leaving the other three behind. Rachel watched them disappear behind the corner they took and said, "I hate ninjas," as she realized they weren't going to catch them.

(-)

Ryu waited for the oversized Fiend to make the first move. It was a game of patience that this thing was easily winning. It was two hundred feet away from the ship just watching him like a snake eyeing its prey. It unnerved him to know that it was showing that much restraint and patience.

A group of soldiers took shots at it at start while ducking back into cover. Once they were fairly certain it wasn't going to harm them they just opened fire and unloaded fully clips at the thing. Ryu could see that they were hurting it. Two minutes of nonstop fire from eight soldiers was starting to show on it. Yet even with that it didn't move. He knew it wasn't dead. It swayed back and forth like a serpent, but reframed from snapping at them. The soldiers kept firing and Ryu lowered his guard ever so slightly. It didn't do anything.

He lowered his sword.

It remained transfixed on something else, clearly now not him.

Sheathing his sword he began gathering Ki for an attack. Ryu charged his attack fully and fired it. It weaved around it and turned to face him angrily, but like an obedient puppy, it didn't attack. It kept watching the ship now. It was really getting on his nerves.

"That thing isn't going to come down with this gear," one of the soldiers said. Ryu tried to figure out which one said that. They all looked and dressed the same. The only way to tell them apart was body size and height. The tallest one turned and opened a hatch. He used his radio and thirty seconds later an RPG was brought up. He hefted it on his shoulder, took aim, and fired. It sailed straight and true and struck it in the face. It twitched, but didn't attack. "What hell is with this thing? Hey, Ninja, don't these things usually kill without thinking?"

Ryu put his hands on his hips. "Yeah," he answered back. The serpent suddenly jerked and then came alive. It lunged at the ship and slammed its head down on the deck. The soldiers scattered while shooting at it. It ignored the guns and began chewing at the deck. Ryu unsheathed his sword and ran at it. _Is something coming up that it wants to kill? _He stabbed the sword into its multicolored eye and got a painful cry from it. It jerked up and wagged its head left to right. Not a moment later a bright beam of pink energy flew from the hole and missed it by scant inches. "Kasumi?" he questioned fearfully.

Sure enough Kasumi appeared from the hole. Her breathing was labored and she looked pale.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

His concern for her wellbeing overruled rational thinking. Staying in a bed right now wouldn't help unless she was dead. Her being up would give her a better chance at surviving this.

Offering a sympathetic look towards the Hayabusa, Kasumi pointed at the large Fiend as it thrashed about in an attempt to sooth its pain. "We can't let that thing hit the ship anymore. It's flooding in several areas." It had enough and lunged towards her. Kasumi wasn't ready to attack it. With her wakizashi gone, long-range was all she could do. She rolled out of the way and let it pass between her and the Super Ninja. "I'll provide support! You focus on keeping it occupied."

He nodded and dashed off.

Kasumi started concentrating on gathering Ki for an attack. The wound from the previous battle burned painfully, cutting her concentration in half. When she'd awoken she wasn't surprised to know that they were under attack. Getting to the surface had been hard but she did it. The original purpose had been to come up top and hopefully draw the Fiends away from the troops below that were having a hard time dealing with them, but when she was about to do just that the ceiling caved in. Anything big enough to do that warranted attention over the smaller things.

Watching Ryu, she waited until she saw an opening. The opening came several seconds later. Fully charged, Kasumi fired her clans' special technique and watched with a sense of pride as it clove through the beast's mouth and ripped it to shreds. It howled and turned towards her, but did nothing more. Ryu, from the top of its head, charged a Piercing Void and blew through its skull, blowing chunks of meat, bone, and brain all over the deck. It wobbled and then toppled over as gravity took over. Ryu jumped off and onto the deck as it splashed down into the ocean and sank into the murky depths.

"Good job," he told her.

Kasumi smiled happily just as Ryu lunged and tackled her out of the way. Her mind didn't register it until she saw a tendril of scales strike the ground at their feet like a whip. It retracted just as fast as it appeared and returned to a humanoid Fiend in the sky. Getting to their feet, Ryu armed himself with his sword and Kasumi began charging for her Ninpo again. This Fiend was oddly humanish considering how most of them lacked a real _Human _appearance.

This one, female clearly, had black bird wings, red scales covered every inch of its body, talon feet, clawed hands, and carried a small shield that was strapped to its right arm while in its left hand was a giant scythe. The shield produced the whip and it as dangling a good thirty feet down from her. Green eyes peered down on them like toys for amusement.

It turned towards the East, blinked, and then turned its gaze back on them.

She raised her shield arm and flung the whip out. Ready for it this time, they dodged it fully and both fired with two Ninpos. They were batted away with her shield and sword. Something akin to displeasure reflexed in her eyes. Ryu narrowed his eyes on her. Without warning she lashed out with her whip again. It slashed the ground and began to melt. The Greater Fiend slashed again and again with her whip, making the duo dance around her furious attacks.

The female Greater Fiend laughed mockingly as she retracted her whip and dropped down on them with her scythe swinging for Kasumi's head. The Kunoichi moved fast and dodged it by scant inches. She hopped back, reached for her weapon, panicked once she remembered it was gone, and dove away from another slash that nearly took her head. When the Fiend swung again, Kasumi jumped, planted her feet on the weapon, kicked off, tucked, rolled, and landed beside the Hayabusa as he fired a barrage of fireballs at her.

Her wings wrapped around her form and shielded her from the intense heat. The metal glowed yellow. Her feet began to sink into it. Unfolding her wings, a torrent of pink and purple energy waves sliced through the hull of the ship, cleaving through the deck and making their way towards the pair. Ryu punched the ground, creating a negative zone of energy with his Ki and deflecting most of it. The rest pushed through him, slicing through flesh with ease. Kasumi braced him, skidded back, and stopped ten feet from the impact zone. Ryu dropped to his knees. With one hand, Kasumi fired her technique again at half-charge with Ryu doing the same. The two attacks crossed, merged, and plowed into her protective wings again. The Greater Fiend was hurled backwards, slamming hard into the protective railing.

Kasumi helped Ryu to his feet and noticed the blood oozing down his right arm: his sword arm.

Kasumi quickly turned her attention back to the Fiend. It shook its head, looked at them, and then vanished like fog dissipating in the wind.

Ryu unsheathed his sword and closed his eyes while holding it with his non-dominate hand. Standing back to back they waited until it presented itself. Ryu felt it when she appeared beside both of them, her weapon gripped in both hands and being swung for both their heads.

"Don't move."

A blur intercepted the attack, blocking the weapon and making her scream.

The two backed away. The Greater Field snarled and snapped as it jumped away, its wings flapping angrily as it took to the skies.

Armed with his sword, Sasuke stood up slowly to his full height and stared straight up at the Fiend. Not a second later Ayane and Hayate appeared with Mizuki, Rachel, and Irena bringing up the fear thirty seconds later. His appearance alone had Ryu and Kasumi in shock. There was no way he should have been up, let alone moving considering his injuries.

Sasuke rested his sword on his shoulder and eyed her dangerously. She smirked down on him and touched the spot where his eye was missing on her face to mock him. "Wishing to set me on fire with that little black flame of yours?" She taunted.

Snorting, he looked at his sword and stared at his reflection for a brief moment. He had covered up his eye with a piece of cloth. Kakashi would have been proud of him, or displeased. He didn't know. "I don't need Amaterasu to beat you, weakling. You're not worth my time. But," looking at her fully, "you can tell me where the white and blue one are, along with your master."

Looking at her scythe, she shook her head. "Sorry, Uchiha, but you're dealing with me. Master's orders are to kill you… or remove your final eye. Can't have that thing running around freely." Touching his eye, he smiled. "Lucky you, though, I aim to kill you!"

Like a bird swooping down to nab its prey, she fell upon the Uchiha. Sasuke avoided her with the greatest of ease, his sword coming up and cleaving through her wing and shield arm. She didn't scream this around her body turned sideways and braced for impact. She struck against a wooden pillar, tearing through it and stopped in the wall behind it. She fell down, her eyes turning towards her missing limbs.

"You can't hide your appearance from me, your ugly monster. I've seen you before. Or did you forget that?" The Uchiha slowly turned, his hands dancing through seals. With a single breath he spat a torrent of flames that consumed everything around and about her. Black, oily smoke rose from the flames as he stopped. "Let your true self be revealed."

She fell to her knees, screaming loudly. Over the roar of the flames a loud primal growl sounded. From the flames a creature of red appeared. No longer did it appear human, replaced instead with a thin creature with four arms, of which the top had a blade-like extension sprouting from its wrist. On its shoulders was a pair of opened mouths where white flames danced inside the opening. It stood on bipedal legs covered with several spikes, just like its three long tails and back where its wings and folded in and turned into three giant ruptured spikes. It hovered low to the ground, its mandibles twitching as searing green eyes probed his form. It was a giant now compared to what it was before, standing easily at twelve feet tall.

"**Die." **A beam of pure white sprang from its mouth and sliced through the deck on a direct path for the Uchiha. Before the beam even hit she turned towards the right and smiled as it clove through him, turning his body in a murder of crows. **"Faster than usual. Trying to live?"**

Sasuke appeared from nowhere on a direct path for the transformed Greater Fiend. His sword was down low ready for a quick sweep that would cleave its legs off. Seeing what he was doing, she jumped up, clung to the wall, climbed up and then slashed at him with her long tails. The Uchiha stopped short, jumped to the right, then the left, forward, rolled, sprang to his feet, and ran into the ship. She laughed loudly and screamed down on the floor she was on, tearing a hole straight through it and two decks below and blew out the windows as a result. Flames sprang up and struck her in the face, forcing her back, releasing dozens into the sky.

She looked up and laughed.

"**You won't fire that!" **

The sound of chirping birds got her attention. Her tails lashed out as she turned to face it. Sasuke weaved through them and pushed his arm forward. All fours arms came up and made a grab for him. He wove through them and got in close. Leaning back as if to stop it; she took the full brunt of his attack to the chest and then howled in a painful rage as both arms finally grabbed hold of him. She tore at him like a terrier that shacks a rat until he broke into another murder of crows.

The wound in her chest was real and it began to ache.

"Where is your master?" Sasuke asked patiently as he appeared on the top of the build above her. She craned her head up to glare at him. "I won't ask again." Raring up to her full height, the Uchiha sighed and vanished before her eyes. In one swift movement her head was removed and her body left twitching as it fought to understand what had just occurred before gravity took her down. "I warned you," he muttered while sheathing his sword.

Planting a foot on the body, he shoved it violently and knocked it to the deck before following it down.

Rachel looked it over and then to the raven haired teen. He seemed entirely displeased with the situation. Stepping over to him, the Uchiha turned slowly and his red eye blazed to life. Ryu glanced at it and just like that his world shifted. One moment he was staring at the Uchiha and then he was suddenly staring at a ceiling with Irena leaning over him, her head shaking in complete disbelief.

"What… happened?" he asked worryingly. Something was really off. He was sure he was standing on the deck looking at the raven haired teen before this.

"He got you with a Genjutsu!" Ayane yelled angrily.

"He got us all!" Hayate corrected. "Somehow he got us with one, not sure how, but according to the crew, we were all standing around talking to him after the Fiend died like he was there. Everyone was talking to him but not to each other. Took them an hour to figure out what happened. Kasumi came out of it first somehow and then started waking us up. You fell down when we broke you of it."

Ryu blinked stupidly. "But-"

"We have no idea on how he did it, only that he did it. And during that time he managed to jump ship. He's not here anymore." Hayate sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Ryu fell back down on the bed. Irena sighed in frustration along with him. "There is some good news in all of this. During his surgery Helena had him tagged." Ryu's head jerked up and his eyes panned towards Irena. She wasn't looking at him now. "We know where he's at. He's heading through Canada right now and will be hitting Klamath National Forest in California again. So we need to get moving."

Nodding slowly, Ryu sat up fully and hung his head. His arm didn't hurt anymore. That was good. Ayane tossed him his gear, gave a cold greeting to Irena, and departed. Ryu followed soon after. For once he wanted things to go smoothly with the Fiends. And now that he had to track down a Ninja with powers rivaling his own, he didn't feel like things were going to go smoothly until that teen saw reason or died. And judging by that conversation he'd had with the Fiend, he doubted that things would go smoother if he died or lost his other eye, whatever that meant.


	3. Not What You Think

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Chapter 2

_October tenth was when everything went down. That was the day when everything I knew and loved was destroyed._

_The Shinobi Alliance that challenged the Akatsuki lost its fight against my ancestor, Uchiha Madara, and relative, Uchiha Obito, during their fight to control the world through their Moons Eye Plan, when the unthinkable happened. Despite all the preparations that Madara and Obito had come with, the Juubi could not be controlled and tore his new host apart from the inside, overtaking his body and destroying the mind of Obito as a result. Its first target was Uzumaki Naruto. Without pause and reason, it speared him through the chest, and consumed him whole. With this, the Alliance was pushed back, nearly destroyed, and sent with a dire warning that it would be coming for them._

_In reality, the destruction didn't set in until news came that it had overpower and beaten Madara, killing something that surely could not die in a body that was incapable of being destroyed. How this was done, I, to this day, do not know. But I saw it for myself, the aftermath of their battle that lasted for eight full days. His only blessing was that he was already dead when he died again and felt no pain when his end came. _

_And then, as if spurred by a moment of rage, it turned its gaze towards us as we huddled in the remnants of our villages, licking our wounds and trying to recover and regroup for what we knew might be our final stand. It lashed at us, raving the country side until it reached us, destroyed everything in its path. With the body of Obito and its powers, it showed us powers we never dreamed of, Ninjutsu so grand that even the most talented of us could do nothing to stop. The strongest defenses fell in seconds, and the mightiest of shinobi dropped at the wave of a hand. Its power was beyond our understanding. Simply put: it was a God._

_However, it seemed amused by us in our attempt to prolong our life, and thus spared us outright obliteration. A lot of us gave up. We were outmatched in every aspect. There was nothing we could do. _

_The first sign of our destruction came with the former Hokages all dying again. Like Madara, their deathless bodies were destroyed, beaten so badly that the only thing we knew was that death wasn't their greatest fear. They'd all tried their hardest to stand against it, but failed horribly. Not soon after, Gaara fell, then Ai, Oonoki, and finally Tsunade. With their deaths, Mei took over as leader of the Alliance. The strain became too much for her and it was apparent as her skin grew wrinkles and her hair turned white. After six months, the exhaustion, stress, and fatigue played its part as her heart gave out. Too many deaths, too many losses. _

_Then death kissed us fully on the lips when Killer Bee died. He had spent his time training, waiting, and hoping that they could end him with his power. The fight lasted two full days before the outcome was clear. He died bravely, but his braver did him no good. Before the overbearing might of the Juubi, he was slaughtered. We looked for the Hachibi, but never found it. Kurosutchi believed it went into hiding, but we had no way of knowing if it did or didn't. To this day I've yet to see it, if it still lives. I doubt it does, but the others still believe it lives in hiding, waiting for something to change so that it could rise up and destroy the Juubi._

_But like the passing of storms, it left without reasoning. It was if an endless storm had passed and our first rays of sunlight had come breaking through the clouds after darkness had covered everything. For two months we were able to breathe freely and begin building anew. There were those like me that feared it would return, and prepared for the upcoming battle. _

_On the first day of spring it happened. The war we feared to come finally came knocking at our doorstep… but it wasn't the creature we had thought it would be. Instead, it was four months with powers equal to a Bijuu in nature. We knew not where they came from, only that they were set on our ultimate destruction. They blew villages away with powers we could barely stand against. For six days we fought with no hope of victory until Hatake Kakashi managed to destroy one. With its death we knew we could win. And win we did. We killed all but the flying red one that could change its appearance. _

_But they weren't alone._

_From the death of the three creatures came three new ones with powers more ferocious than their predecessors. They killed without care and destroyed everything with unbelievable power. We set out to destroy them. A hundred of us left, only two returned; myself and Suigetsu. We took down the new three while the fourth lived yet again. And like before, three new ones replaced the fallen… and they couldn't be stopped._

_It took them a single day to raze all of the remaining villages. The night never came. The flames blocked out all darkness, creating a false sunlight for us to look towards. We knew then that our time was limited. _

_Iruka, acting as leader of the Alliance, was the one to send everyone off. We split, leaving behind everything we knew as we ran from the creations of destruction. It was the White One and the Blue Armored one that appeared before my group. I swore I'd never let anyone else down, but I could nothing to stop them from slaughtered those that followed me. I left with twenty-eight people and got off the island with two; Karin and Shikamaru. _

Ryu snapped the diary shut. Ayane and Hayate leaned against the hull of the helicopter that was taking them back to the forest with downcast eyes. Even after deciphering it, understanding how it worked, which was only figured out by Momiji, the cold truth really stung their faces. This wasn't a battle that could be fought easily like all the other Fiend encounters. And these things weren't true Greater Fiends either; just pale imitation, creations of another that must have taken the understanding of their predecessors and gained new abilities as time went on.

It put a few things into perspective for what they were up against, but it still left Ryu and Rachel with more questions than normal. For starters: how had neither of them learned of their existence sooner? The diary page was dated from two years ago. In two years they would have seen, heard, or felt something from them. Even if they were just the creation of another Fiend of some kind, they still felt the same, even if they logically didn't fit the same profile. A Greater Fiend was created from a human that turned into a Fiend but kept its soul and ascended to Greater Fiend status. During the change to become a Fiend if they were simply strong enough, a new Greater Fiend would be born, but it would be a brand new one with its own memories and personality, not something that basically worked like a hive mind, learning from its predecessor and adapting what it knew and what killed it to the next in line.

"So we're not dealing with Greater Fiends," Ayane asked, wanting to be absolutely sure on this. Ryu nodded. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "So this is a race to kill them and their master before it can create new copies? Great… So the one he killed was simply a first generation type. There's no telling what it'll return as and with what at its disposal."

Ryu gripped his right arm. It still ached from the blast it'd taken. Even with their medical herbs the wound hadn't faded away entirely. With his sword arm wounded, his fighting prowess would be reduced and he'd have to rely on his Ninjutsu to get him through this, leaving Hayate, Rachel, Ayane, and Momiji to do all the heavy work. It was a shame that Kasumi couldn't join them, but he knew she was helping them regardless.

"Seems that way," he responded a moment later. "We have to find Sasuke before he goes against them again. We can only pray we make it in time."

Cracking open the diary again, Ryu got a sick feeling that there were more horrors in this diary than there were answers.

By the time they reached the Klamath National Forest, Sasuke had already reached the center and waited patiently for the attack that was to come.

It was almost like a dream. He hadn't remembered when things had gone so downhill for him. His mind was more plagued with thoughts of doubt in his ability as a leader and as a shinobi. He made promises he couldn't keep. But why did the end for them have to come in such an odd way?

Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder as something cold brushed over him. He shimmied up the closest tree and waited. Nothing passed.

"Forget about revenge." Sasuke whirled around, his eye wide as he searched for the voice. "The fate of those who seek revenge is grim. You will end suffering and hurting yourself even more. Even if you do succeed in getting revenge, the only thing that remains is emptiness."

Sasuke growled. He'd heard those words before. The voice and words belonged to one Hatake Kakashi. They were the words he used after Sasuke had fought and lost to Naruto. Only the two of them knew of that conversation and Kakashi was dead.

The world exploded in a bright light.

Shielding his one eye, he squinted through cracked fingers and saw the forest disappear in the light, replaced with the ruins of his clan's secret compound. His mind rejected what couldn't be possible as the light faded and his sight returned to normal. He reached out tentatively and touched the broken stone. It was real. This was the place where he fought and killed his older brother.

"Do you hate me?"

Sasuke whirled around, katana drawn. He stopped short in the swing as the blade touched flesh. His single eye was wide with fright. Again, his mind rejected what couldn't be real, but before him stood his brother, Uchiha Itachi. He wore the clothing of the Akatsuki; his face was grim with regret.

"After all, being hated is part of what it means to be a shinobi. When you're strong, you become arrogant and withdrawn."

Stepping back, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightened to where blood dripped down the blade. "You can't be real. What are you?"

Itachi smiled and vanished before his sight.

"That should be obvious." The Uchiha turned slowly. This time he was greeted with the smiling image of Sakura. "I am no one. And I am everyone."

Sasuke snorted and charged the imposter. His sword was about to taste flesh with the imposter did its vanishing trick again. Laughter was all he could hear.

Sheathing his weapon, he humored the illusion or whatever it was that created this place and continued down the corridor towards the center room. There were many good things to having the Sharingan, but probably one of the bad things was remembering things in great detail that the user didn't want to remember. Sasuke could remember his brother smiling at him as he died. How his mouth moved. How his muscles twitched and his body jerked with each movement he did. He could remember it all in such great detail that it was almost like he was reliving that moment everytime his mind wondered back to it.

Sasuke shoved the door open, cut down the curtain that concealed the next room, and walked in. He wasn't surprised to see someone waiting for him.

It was cloaked in dark, tattered robes with the hood up and lowered to conceal almost all of its face. What could be seen were deep red lips, pale skin, and the whisker of brown hair that cascaded over colored eyes. Feathers and skulls hung from the cloak while a pair of small purples feathers fluttered out from behind it in different directions. Lying cross its lap was a long staff with a think blade at the end, more spear than scythe in appearance with the curve and angle.

A twitch of the hand from the figure and the world around him came alive. Shadowed figures moved around him, talking, and interacting with the world around them.

Sasuke took interest in them for only a moment before his gaze was returned to the creature. He could not see at this distance, but its body posture suggested it was smiling.

The Uchiha kept walking until he was within arms' reach of the creature. It glanced up and smiled softly at him as a thin hand reached up and pulled the hood back, revealing the face of a man long dead. Sasuke sucked in his breath and clenched his hands into fists. This creature wore the face of one Hyuuga Hinata, someone that had committed suicide just two days after the defeat the Juubi dealt them. Her final moments had been written in a letter that Sasuke burned with her body. She didn't want the world to know how weak she was, but at the same time she wanted someone to know how weak she truly was. Her death was a very sad thing and the first of many.

"I hated you… and Haruno. Did you know that?" Sasuke snorted in annoyance. "Naruto-kun's death might have been avoided if you'd been stronger!" Her face turned red with anger. That had been so rare. Even during sparring sessions she had never shown that emotion. "I hated Haruno for always having Naruto-kun's eyes on herself. She was always beating on him when he tri-"

-Sasuke's sword shot through her stomach from behind.

With a role of her eyes, she turned her head slowly to face the patient looking Uchiha. "A sword? Really?"

Sasuke turned swiftly and extended one hand, firing a bolt of lightning that pierced another Hinata in the distance. It was a mirror fight to when he'd faced his brother all those years ago. The impersonator grinned mischievously from the chair, her hands placed neatly in her lap. Then, like a flickering flame, her form changed to that of Inuzuka Kiba. The posture was all wrong, but the smug expression was right on. In his final moments he had been at his best, defying death all the way to the end. He had been the stuff legends were about right up until the end.

Pulling his sword free, the Uchiha grunted and walked towards the imposter with slow purpose.

"Where is the white one and the blue armored one?" It smiled at him. "Answer me or-"

The Uchiha turned sharply and caught a fist to his face. The changeling smiled proudly, its fingers laced together. "I'm waiting." The dust cleared and the white one stood before him, replacing the location Sasuke had once stood. It looked glade, despite not having a mouth. "Go. End him once and for all."

It made a gurgling sound, perhaps joy, and marched towards the downed Uchiha as it began slowly getting to his feet. His single eye widened and he rolled to the right. The wall behind him blew out. A large sword descended and crushed the stone floor. A second later the blue armored one appeared. Sasuke twisted and faced them, sword presented it.

Grunting, he flipped through seals as fast as he could. The white one got in too fast, knocked him back, and began assaulting him while the Uchiha tried to get away.

Sasuke grunted while taking a few blows to his stomach. He caught the fist of the white one, pushed and rolled over its entire form, raised his leg, and planted it firmly in the back of its head. It stumbled forward, unhappy, but unhurt. It twisted around almost too fast for its own body to remain stable and then lashed out with a hard kick. Sasuke ducked under it, pulled back on his sword and then thrust it forward for its head. It weaved out of the way, howling something akin to rage, and backed off.

Sasuke ran one step forward, thought about it, backed up, and avoided the descending form of the blue one as it tried to crush him under her powerful weapon. Rolling to the right, he slashed at her body. She brushed off the weapon with her shoulder, pushing through him in the process and driving him to the ground. With both hands she raised her sword and brought it down. Sasuke flipped from his back on his hands to his feet, avoiding the swing but not the kick that landed to his back. It threw him forward up against the back wall. He hit hard. Then the white one charged him and drove him through it, exiting the illusionary building and ending up outside in the forest. It didn't stop shoving him until it reached a tree and crushed him into it. Sasuke didn't scream, causing it to look up. Sasuke broke into a murder of crows.

Angry, it began sniffing the air as its sister and brother materialized at its side.

The ground bulged, ruptured, and the Uchiha was pushed out of the cold earth by the scythe armed Fiend. It slithered out of the ground and stood at ten feet tall from where its body bent. Snarling at the rising human, it crossed its arms, glanced at its siblings, then slithered towards the Uchiha at a fast pace, defying its large size.

Sasuke angrily got back to his feet and was forced immediately on the defensive. The other two Fiends surged forth while their new brother remained behind, watching happily from his small throne in the ruins of the imaginary compound he'd created. Pushed back, outnumbered, and outmaneuvered, the Uchiha cursed his luck. He had foreseen this, but had doubted that it would be this bad. The last time he had faced them like this had been when he had almost died, but they had an army with them and he had one more person with him.

The scythe armed one brought both arms down in a cross formation. Sasuke awkwardly rolled backwards out of the way, grunted while getting to his feet, jumped to the side, tucked, rolled, and sprang back to his feet while flipping through seals. He finished, spun fully, and spat a volley of fire into the face of the scythe armed one. It screamed and took to the skies to get away, leaving the flames to crash into the trees behind it. Sasuke stopped, but not fast enough. The white one was on him in an instant and planted a hard kick into his ribs, knocking all the air out of his lungs. It continued through, lifting him up and blowing him away.

Sasuke flipped through the air, corrected his flight, and then landed on his feet. His right hand exploded with lightning and he shot towards the closes one available. The white one intercepted his charge for its blue sister and took the blow head on through the chest. Its entire body quivered as one hand came out and grabbed Sasuke's wrist. With a single pull it removed his hand and shoved him away. Sasuke flipped through a few seals and blasted it with another breath of fire. Its entire form was consumed and a deafening roar echoed from within the roaring flames. Its form stood at the center, blood red eyes staring through the yellow flames until they turned dark and it slumped to its knees.

The blue one gurgled something to its two siblings, turned towards the North as if listening, then turned back to the Uchiha. The flames died away leaving only a stone gray corpse in its wake.

Sasuke looked it over for a few extra seconds and then nodded. It was dead.

The ground erupted and the scythe-armed one shot out like a bolt of lightning. Sasuke gasped as he felt the arm slice through his back. He staggered forward right into the first of the blue one, spinning him around into the new one as it took the form of Gai and pelted him punch after punch before spinning on the ball of its foot and kicking him squarely in the head. Sasuke rocketed back into the waiting tail of its scythe-armed brother where he was thrown into the ruins of the illusionary compound.

All three charged their energies and formed a tiny ball of blues', red's, and green's that shrank to pinpoint brilliance before erupting into a pillar of light and colliding with the spot Sasuke had struck down. A pillar of five rose upwards, belching smoke and dust upwards into the air. Debris rained down moments later.

A twitch of the wrist and the blue armored Fiend swung it sword and cast an arc of light that split through the smoke and dust, blowing it all aside to reveal a smoldering crater of black stone and molt earth further in.

Snorting, she turned and swung her sword again, this time blast away chunks of the illusionary building and revealing the Uchiha. His single eye was not wide with shock, but gleaming with mischief and pride. He brought both hands to his mouth and bit something unseen by their eyes as his hands formed a single seal. Fire danced around him and consumed him and then morphed into the form of an angry lizard. Without warning it shot off towards them, following an unseen cable that connected to the ground behind them.

The pillar of fire soared straight and true. The blue one raised one hand and the flames splashed against an unseen wall. The flames licked at the invisible wall and scorched the grass at their feet. The trees blew away and the sky became ablaze with fire as the sun began to set past the trees.

Sasuke stopped his jutsu and ran through the trail of smoke from his jutsu. He pushed chakra through his sword as he got closer towards them. He bust through the smoke and swung with a charka infused sword only to meet the sword of the blue one. He fell to one knee and gasped as he felt the cold touch of her pull on his soul. Once their swords separated the coldness was gone, replaced only with dread fear. He knew now he could not win this fight. Something was off. They weren't fighting to destroy him it seemed.

Something snaked his wrist and flung him through the air. The scythe-armed one had snagged him and dangled him like a worm on a hook. It looked pleased.

"Our long war ends today," the sword wielding Fiend said slowly. Her pointer finger came up. A chunk of gravel flew from the shadows and wrenched her aim aside, sparing the Uchiha a quick death. "Intruders," she barked at the other two. "We must deal with them."

Pulling the Uchiha in, Sasuke was surprised when his entire world flipped twice and then felt something scoop him up. Glancing at his side as his feet found solid earth beneath them again, he found the masked form of the black clothed Shinobi from the ship. He never caught his name.

"Why are you here?!" Sasuke snarled. The other two arrived, bringing with them one more, a woman with a Naginata in her hands. Her eyes were wide as she took in the forms of the three still living Fiends. "Never mind… Just stay out of my way!"

"We save you," Ayane screamed and pointed at his beaten form, "and this is how you repay us?! With yelling?!"

"I don't need your help!" Sasuke growled and looked at the three. They had waited. That was unlike them.

A pillar of white light that formed into tiny crystals fell from the heavens and covered the white one from before. Sasuke turned sharply, his eye wide with fear. He felt it more than he heard the heartbeat form in it. It was alive still.

Sasuke felt his world go dark as the white one slowly regain its color and rose to its feet like an animal waking from a deep sleep. Its armor started to crack and break off from its form, revealing a clean, fresh, new armor underneath. This was more regale in design. Its entire body morphed with the armor, changing its appearance. It grew taller, more muscular, and began to sprout chunks of white bone from its knees and shoulders. The wound on its chest vanished, replaced with a blue core with a golden shine at the center of it.

It took two stops forward then its face began to tremble. A crack appeared just above its chin. This alarmed even its siblings. Its head lurched backwards and then the crack broke free, releasing a painful roar as it howled and smoke for the first time ever since its birth.

"And the dreamer gives me power." It was male.

Sasuke gripped his sword tighter. "I watched you murder innocent men and women! I will make you answer for what you did!"

"I will walk over your cold corpse!" He grinned and opened its mouth. A ball of pure red formed inside it and then blasted out faster than what its siblings could do.

Ryu grabbed Sasuke and threw him down while he took cover. The blast tore over their head and decimated the remains of the illusionary compound. The shockwave hit a moment later. Anyone that was human was thrown into the wind and sent skipping along the earth through the fire soaked forest.

Ryu was the first to come to his senses. He knew he hadn't been out long. Something was screaming his ears. Blinking blood from his eyes and running his hand over his face to help clear it out, he could barely make out the words. They seemed to foreign suddenly. Ayane was in the same position. Hayate and Momiji as well.

"…_two minutes to bingo fuel! Ryu! Get out of there! Ryu? Can you hear me?! Ryu!"_

Ryu stumbled forward as he got to his feet and found Sasuke getting up with his sword in hand. "I hear you," he whispered once he recognized what was happening. It was Irene. She was warning him about something. "We'll leave now." He coughed from the smoke and grabbed the Uchiha. "We have to go! We can't stay here!"

"Then leave! I'm not leaving until they're dead!"

"But you'll die!" Hayate shouted at him. He held his side. It was slick with blood. Ayane was holding her head while Momiji tried to treat her at the very least. "We only came here to get you. This is beyond us right now. We need to regroup!"

"Don't tell me what to do! You're not my team or my friends! Now leave or die! I don't care which!"

Sasuke snarled at him as he turned back to the creatures that were slowly moving in their direction. They stopped and began charging up another attack. Sasuke smiled and raised one hand towards the sky. They stopped, looked up, and from the heavens, a bolt of lightning raced down on them. The resulting blast tore the remaining area of the trees, leaving a scar on the land that was now two miles in radius from all the fighting. Sasuke smirked, but knew that it was not over.

"Don't get in my way. If you wanna help me, then help me. If you don't intend to, then leave."

Hayate had enough and grabbed the Uchiha up by his throat, hefting him into the air. "We came here to save you and we're not leaving until you leave with us. You won't survive this! That white one got right back up after you killed it. What does that tell you? How do you know that the others won't do it either?!" Sasuke stared at him with his one eye. Hayate sat him down gently. "Sorry, Uchiha-san."

"Release him!" Ryu shouted as he swung his sword at the Uchiha. Sasuke blocked it with his own and stared at him. Ryu averted his gaze, reached out with a kunai, and stabbed Hayate in the arm. He shouted and came alive after that, tackling the Uchiha and pinning him to the ground. Ayane stormed over and kicked him soundly in the head. His head bashed against a tree root and he became dazed. Momiji dipped down and put a cloth to his mouth. He breathed without thinking and suddenly blacked out. "We need to move!" The smoke cleared and the four stood tall, proudly, and undamaged. "Run!"

Whether it was luck or some guiding hand of fate, they were spared any direct fighting from the four. Instead they had sent the Fiends. They had departed suddenly as if they were more interested in something else suddenly and that the Uchiha was of little concern. Whatever the case was, Ryu was thankful for that. Fighting one at a time would have been easy. All four of them would be suicide, even while he was still injured. And given the condition of Hayate and Ayane, it would have been miracle or an act of God to have come out of alive from a fight with all four given that they could seemingly regenerate from lethal attacks that had either killed or would have killed them.

(-)

When the helicopter touched down, the door was slide open and Sasuke was rushed out on a stretcher. Detained by spells and leather straps for their safety, he was hauled directly into the chamber with only a door and a vent so small that not even a mouse could scurry through it. No windows and only cameras to watch him, he was thrown in on a bed and left under heavy monitoring.

"Bayman?" Ryu looked to Helena. She was smiling at the returning Ninjas. Medical teams were on standby in her chambers to treat them. Irene and Mizuki were present, both armed with pistols in the likely event that the medics got wild and decided to take their blood samples for something. "What are you doing here?" 

Bayman ran a hand over the scar on his face, a habit he'd picked up after getting it. "I came here because of the attack. I figured she had something to do with it… or MIST did anyways," he admitted freely. Ryu understood from that point. "But she isn't responsible so this is not my problem."

"It could very well be your problem soon," Helena said cryptically. She pressed a button and an attack was shown to be taking place in Russia. "This was taken as soon as you departed from the combat area, Ryu. From nowhere they attacked and only recently vanished. It seems that they had another target in mind after you left."

"Perhaps they're trying to draw out your new ninja?" Bayman said angrily. One was bad enough, two was insane, three was just plain nuts, and four was beyond murder and degrading. But now there were six and he was beyond annoyed with the matters. His own blessing was that one worked with Ryu and the other had, or would have, a deep hatred for those that went to get him and would probably steer clear of Donovan and his little group. Donovan was his target and on else's. Not even Kasumi would be allowed to kill that man.

"We thought about that as well, but that doesn't seem to be the case here," Helena confessed sadly. "They attacked a series of dojos at start and left the people inside as dried up husks. All their fluids were drained. HAZMAT teams have been deployed and are taking them into confined areas for study. I doubt the families will be able to bury their dead because of this."

Hayabusa clenched his fists. This was all so wrong. Even knowing that the four weren't true Greater Fiends or Fiends in general was a plus, but why attack randomly like this? It made no sense. It was as if they simply went where they wanted and attacked what they wanted. Before they were chasing Sasuke, now they simply caused chaos without concern or care.

"There is some good news," she admitted. "We were able to find corpses of Fiends as well in the same condition as the humans at the dojo." Ryu blanched. "The one that lead this attack was the blue one, which we are calling "Blue" for the time being. We've named them after their colors since we're not good at naming them and it would only make sense. If they have real names, we will make changes accordingly. For the time being, however, they will be known by their colors."

"Did you manage to figure out how that building got there in the first place?" Ayane asked. She yelped and punched the medic. He scampered off like a scolded puppy. "I'll do it myself, thank you!" She hissed and went to work bandaging her head and then her arm. Momiji steered clear from her. Ayane was a violent woman most of the time, but more so when she was injured or failed her objective. Irene even moved away a little, more for her own safety than to be closer to her lover.

"No. There was no building."

"That… can't be." Ryu looked at Hayate. That wasn't an illusion. They'd felt it. Touched it even. It was real. Had been real. Was real!

Helena nodded slowly. She had thought the same thing. They had video footage of the building, but no other method of seeing it could find it. How this was, she did not know, but it was a mystery worth solving for the time being. It would clear her mind a little.

"Well with that guy sleeping, we won't get any more information out of him. At least not until he wakes up," Hayate said heatedly. He touched his temple. Eye contact was what the Uchiha needed to just put him under his control. Hayate felt sick knowing what he'd done. He saw the video footage. Just knowing he was a mindlessly under his control for only a few seconds was really frightening. At least they knew how it worked now… or in theory anyways.

"I'll get the answers out of him," Rachel said angrily. She was still pissed that he had hypnotized her during the attack.

"There's no telling how long that'll be," Mizuki said sourly. "For the time being we'll have security teams guarding the ship while it undergoes repairs and resupplying. Since we have their target again, we can only assume they'll return to reclaim him."

"And if they don't?" Ayane inquired.

"Then we watch another part of the world go up in flames."

Neither option sounded good.

Irene sighed inwardly. "Until that man wakes up, we're on standby. Bayman, are you gonna stick around? We might need you if you want to help. I'm sure you'll be well compensated if you choose to help." Her eyes danced over to Helena. The blonde just blinked like she didn't understand.

Bayman scoffed and began walking for the door. "I'll be in touch."

As soon as the door shut, Ryu let out a growl of frustration, rare as it was, but clearly a sign of his mental exhaustion. "I should see about getting some more help from my village. I don't think we have many people that could or can come, but it's worth a try. No point in trying to tackle this on my own."

"I'll stay to tend to the young man when he awakens, Master Ryu."

Nodding his thanks, Ryu departed, taking Irene with him. There was one last thing to do before he could depart.


End file.
